


You Only Live Twice

by alyyks



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode: s03e05 The Journey, Gen, Kuron is Ryou (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25903459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alyyks/pseuds/alyyks
Summary: Shiro's the name they choose for the both of them.A what-if where Shiro was two people, and the clone was hijacked by one of those people
Relationships: Keith & Kuron (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	You Only Live Twice

**Author's Note:**

> Releasing this one into the wild - if anyone wants to run with it, feel free! I just really enjoyed the idea of Kuron being his own person and people being happy to see him tbh. It doesn't do much for a full story hahaha  
> Beta and encouragements and "you're evil" by antonomasia09, partner in screaming extraordinaire

The start - a start:

“Should I… call you Takashi?”

Someone other than Keith might not have seen the tension in Shiro’s back —only Takashi's—, the minute straightening. He didn’t look at Keith, kept his eyes on the desert horizon like he wanted to sear the picture into the back of his eyes. 

“No,” Shiro finally said. “No. My name—our name, it’s all I have left.”

+

Another start:

The ship Keith and the Black Lion zeroed on, both with the SOS ping and the extra sense the Lions brought, was a Galra fighter, nothing that was supposed to be that deep out in space. The range of those was limited to 12 parsecs to the nearest planet or battleship, carried no significant stores of air and fuel, barely had space for one person: in short, it was a lousy ship to pick outside of needing to go through a close quarters battle. 

Unless the one doing the picking was desperate. Unless the one doing the picking had no other choice. The Black Lion nudged Keith again, hard. Keith didn’t dare get his hopes up. There were no battleship in range, no Galra planet close. For all he knew, this galra ship was a flying coffin. 

None of his hails were answered before Black took the fighter in its jaws. They returned to the Castle faster than Keith had ever flown, even if the castle had been just right behind him all along. 

Keith didn’t check to see if the others were around once the Lion and the fighter were in the hangar. He burst out of the Lion, using the jetpack to boost his speed, and landed hard by the fighter. The canopy released immediately under his hand. 

The suit was unfamiliar, the visor hidden by trembling hands that were trying to take the helmet off—but the being there was human-sized. 

Keith reached out, helped take the helmet off, left his hand on a padded shoulder. Lank hair and the smell of unwashed human were released. Keith took a breath—in surprise, in joy—

“Hey kid,” Ryou said, in a voice that was little more than a dry, harsh whisper. “Glad to see you. Takashi there?” 

Keith refused to put a name to the emotions he felt. One lost, one found—again. His face twisted. He jumped at the feeling of Ryou’s hand on him, at his shoulder. The touch was the same. 

He did what he hadn’t done when he had found Shiro—only Takashi then—he moved, and hugged Shiro—only Ryou, now.

+

Yet another starting point:

“He’s a what?”

“You heard me the first time.”

“I did hear you the first time but since it made no sense I was asking for clarification! Duals are like, World War Three nightmare propaganda and weird anti-science-and-space discourse. They’re an urban myth!”

“Oh my god.” Hunk quiet’s outburst broke the argument between Lance and Keith. “Oh my god,” he repeated, both hands on his face, eyes wide. “Shiro is a separated Dual. We thought it was post-traumatic stress from the Galra and everything but it was even worse than that.” He pounced on Keith, his hands going to Keith’s shoulders. Keith froze. “Keith! How can we help Shiro! Well, Ryou. Because he’s in the same boat, exactly the same, and oooh, we are so not qualified—"

“Wait, what?” Lance blinked. “You believe him?!”

Hunk and Keith both turned their heads to him. “Well, duh, Duals aren’t a legend. They’re very rare, but not as rare as, oh, conjoined twins,” Hunk said.

Keith took a step back from Hunk, who let him go after a quick sorry. “How do you know about that?” Keith asked Hunk.

Hunk shrugged. “Mom’s a psychologist. I might have gone into her books when I was too small to know better. The separations attempts of Duals pre-WWIII were…” He shuddered. “By all Earth accounts, that kills people. I really, really don’t want to know more about what the Galra Empire did to Shiro, but. It didn’t kill them, but that can’t have been good, for either of them.” 

“Wait, wait, wait," Lance interrupted, "back up, 'killed them'?”

“Well, Earth technology wasn’t up to having another body around, that’s for sure, and it was more the psychic shock killing them and—I’m going to shut up now.” Hunk took a deep breath, and another, until Keith unconsciously mimicked him. “So. How can we help.” 

“That’s still…” Lance turned his head to Pidge. “Wait, you haven’t said anything. Did you know all along too?” 

“No. But that explains why my dad wanted Shiro to be the Kerberos pilot no matter what.” 

“I think I’m missing some critical information. Is Dual a specific kind of human?” The humans turned to Allura as one. She did not move, kept her smile in place. “It’s wonderful to have Shiro back and I am glad he seems as well as can be expected from his escape, but I was under the impression his personal name was Takashi, not Ryou?” 

“It’s…” Keith started. “Actually, no, it’s not going to be complicated at all. In alien terms, you might even have whole species living like that. Shiro is the name Ryou and Takashi choose for the both of them. They’re a Dual: two consciousnesses in one body. And the Galra did something to them to separate them and make them believe the other had been killed, until now.” 

+

A false start:

Keith walked in the hangar, making no noise. Ryou was there of course, sitting on the floor with his back to Black's massive paw. Of course he had tried to get in, in the middle of the night, with no witness and no one to have to lie to.

Keith walked in and sat next to Ryou.

"Takashi thought you'd get beyond us, you know? I thought the same. Didn't think aliens and a war older than earth civilization was quite in the cards but." Ryou spread his hands, one flesh, one metal, like Shiro-Takashi and unlike him, wholly Shiro-Ryou.

"Don't say it," Keith said, looked away.

"Ah," Ryou said, and his hands went to rest on his thighs. He stayed silent for a moment. "You'll make a good leader, you know. All you need is some experience."

"Don't say it," Keith repeated.

"Sorry," and Ryou sounded all but sorry. "Black doesn't want me. Wrong Shiro," he said, getting up. He was gone before Keith looked up.


End file.
